U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- On 28 September 2020, a warrant was served in Jacksonville Florida, just before 8 a.m. The warrant was not a no-knock warrant. There is evidence the officers serving the warrant attempted to announce themselves with loudspeakers and by knocking. The warrant was served by a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team and the DEA. When they did not get an answer, they started to break in. They were not wearing body cameras.
Diamonds Ford started shooting at them. She hit one officer in his vest, which saved him from a bullet wound. She called 911 and told the operator her home was being attacked.
Operator: “Ma’am give me the name of the street.’
Ford: “7232 Rutledge. Please Hurry.
Operator: “What’s happening?”
Ford: Someone is shooting.
Ford: “We gonna die.”
Operator: “7232 Rutledge Pearson Drive, do you know who is shooting?”
JSO: “Open the front door.”
Ford: “Oh wait, what, wait, that’s the sheriff’s office. Okay hey hey hey, hold on, wait wait wait, hold on wait, whoa.”
There is more on the video. This partial transcript gives you the flavor.
It is hard to deceive convincingly, on the spur of the moment. Diamonds Ford sounds very convincing.
Ford says she and her fiancee were sleeping, awoke to the sound of breaking glass, and she fired at the presumed home invaders.
In the United States, people prize their Second Amendment rights. Their home is their castle. People serving warrants need to take special care.
A warrant announcement that is not heard, is equivalent in effect to a no-knock warrant. One troubling aspect of the raid – no officers wore body cameras. Some neighbors say they were sleeping as well and did not hear the announcement.
This situation can happen to people of any race or religion. We saw a similar event in Houston. The Breonna Taylor case has similarities. The important difference, in this case, is no one was killed. The officer who was hit was protected by his vest. The officers did not fire blindly into the home when they were fired upon.
Diamonds Ford and Anthony Gantt were charged with armed possession of marijuana with intent to sell and attempted murder of a police officer. From news4jax.com:
Although, the judge did acknowledge that some neighbors who were interviewed by police said they were asleep and didn’t hear anything at all before or during the raid.
Charbula also left the door open for a possible bond reduction down the road.
“If, during the discovery process, the Defendant discovers evidence that weakens the State’s claim that the Defendant knew that it was JSO outside her window before she fired and shot a SWAT detective multiple times, this Court will allow the Defendant to file a subsequent motion to reduce bond,” Charbula wrote.
Local attorney Gene Nichols, not affiliated with the case, believes this is promising for the defense.
There have been several cases where, when officers were fired upon, the people doing the shooting were acquitted or the charges were dropped. They include people who are black, white, and Asian.
It helps if the home defender has a sterling record. In the Diamonds Ford case, the couple had some minor criminal history. From jacksonville.com:
A check of Duval County jail records shows both suspects have only a few past local arrests. Gantt was arrested in 2013 for auto burglary and this past May for driving with a suspended license, drug possession and fleeing the scene of an accident. Ford’s arrests included one in 2014 for child abuse, and another in 2010 for fighting.
Minor criminal history is not enough to deny someone their Second Amendment rights.
You cannot have both Second Amendment rights, the right to defend your home as your castle, accepted and widespread in society; and not expect startled homeowners to occasionally shoot police officers who, by some combination of circumstances, do not announce sufficiently to make their presence clearly and unequivocally known.
These types of raids are becoming well known. The public response is not in the favor of the police. Americans love their Second Amendment rights and prize their ability to defend their homes with lethal force.
More and better announcements are happening before breaking down doors.
More police will wear body cameras on the raids. Everyone is going to be held to more accountability through ubiquitous digital recording devices.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
Seriously, with everything going on in this country today, swat teams are still kicking in doors over some weed.
This country needs a reset.
And without having video to capture everything.
Wow, if only the police were wearing body cameras and had them recording the incident, we’d know for sure if they announced their presence and loudly informed the occupants they were serving a warrant or not prior to kicking in the door. You’d think they’d issue someone a cell phone for recording the incident should it be needed in court.
When the police don’t want to do whatever they can to ensure evidence for their side of a case, the law should always favor the “innocent until proven guilty” side of the citizens.
if they are rollling SWAT and have a wigned warrant, they already HAVE enough evidence to carry the day in court. NO need for the crash entry. If they’ve had the place staked, they also know their daily routines. WHY come early and roust them out of bed? Some folks sleep with earplugs or muffs. Copers ever thought about that? Pigheaded coppers dont take time to think things thorugh, and play “what if”. Staging a raid at oh dark thirty is simply resorting to mind games. And WHY do they have them in the lockup? They know where they live… Read more »
LEO’s should always use cameras to document their actions during these times, whether issuing a traffic ticket or serving a warrant. Should there be an altercation it doesn’t turn into a he said, she said on what happened the video would clear it up. When the neighbors don’t hear anything either, it begins to smell bad for LE.
Exactly right.
That deals with the hes said /she said arguments.
I’m thinking more and more that first responders (the homeowners) should have their OWN body cameras.
There could be a market for that.
Cell phone cameras
Well yes, of course.
But what I’m talking about is the homeowner who is armed, hands occupied, and has a camera on the body or head to record it all.
I have had mine for about 3 years now. I am just a civilian, not a cop. Bought it on Amazon.
Arm up and carry on
Good for you.
Sounds like you are armed AND prepared.
And remember: say NOTHING W/O an attorney present.
I just looked at Amazon.
Wow – the ‘magic’ term is Sport Camera.
You can get them on a baseball cap.
Or in your sunglasses.
The possibilities!!
So: He said – He said: See you in court.
Regarding No-Knock search warrants:
If the subject were Nashville Bomber Dude, that would be one thing; but this is weed, not a bomb.
And why this pre-dawn service anyway? Just before 8AM. Right. How about arriving and waiting for the occupants to be awake and having breakfast.
Then execute a Knock-and-Announce warrant.
Look how “SWAT” treated Roger Stone.
Perhaps a Rand Paul federal law to put a stop to this is required.
Good luck on getting the GOP to agree.
Mack ,,, You need to pull your cranium out from between your gluteus maximus, junior. You also need to read the first paragraph of the article, sonny!
Take a hike you perfidious troll!
What makes you think I didn’t do my homework?
Since the cops have done some investigating on this woman surely they had the chance to get a telephone number on her, maybe from their undercover officer who must have bought weed from her or him. Very simple when they wouldn’t answer the door just call them and tell them to open the door that the cops had some questions for them, then they could have served the warrant. On the woman’s part when do you shoot at a target that you can’t identify, never! The cops have no excuse for not having body camera’s with them turned on as… Read more »
Perhaps when said target is using force to break into your home.
It’s time to move on from marjuana. Dumb.
I’m saying this as a retired paratrooper, deputy and gun owner. If someone did a no-knock entry into my house while I was sound asleep, I’d shoot too. I keep a Versa Max loaded with flechette rounds in the bedroom.
All LEOs should be responsible for body cams, even if they have to buy them privately. What dam’ cop would not want one?
In the absence of an insurance policy that included sex accusations, I on my one provided the cameras to my security personnel. It is just SMART.
Defendants lawyer should require them to prove that they had no cameras, or why (more likely) the cams were not operational.
I propose all LEOs body cameras “livestream” to the internet. That way citizens could login to a website and see first-hand what their paid public servants are doing and how they are doing it 24-7-365. Me thinks it would be a good way to weed out bad officers before it reaches a crisis.
That’s my $0.02 YMMV
Dubi Loo . . . and that is about what your opinion is worth, junior! TWO CENTS!!!
RIGHT ON !!
Sounds like the police acted appropriately and the resident acted appropriately. No need to try to stick it to her because you have the power to do so.
CNN should have been on site. Just stupid to do these warrants if folks are inside the home, wait for them to leave the building and serve the warrant before they get into their car or truck. Use PA loudspeaker on the patrol vehicles AND WEAR CAMERAS.
No mention of whether the cops were in uniform, or otherwise plainly visible as police, in particular the officer who was shot. Since he had body armor on, however, my guess is that it was a tactical vest that had giant letters that said “P O L I C E” on it. That said, it is much easier to just serve the warrant during hours when people are awake. You may lose some evidence flushed down the toilet, but that can be mitigated by turning off the water to the house so they only get one flush. Also, if there… Read more »
TSD . . . you obviously do not have he foggiest of what you are saying!
Poor decisions on both sides. No-knock warrant are trouble looking for a place to happen. I’ve done a few.
Now that some states have banned them, I’d be very interested to know specific data on the number of successful arrest warrant visits between knock and no-knock methods.
If you act like a terrorist, cartel operator, robber etc. you had better expect to be treated as one. Just because someone SAYS they are the cops doesn’t mean they are the cops. In Phoenix there are/were some home invaders who announced themselves, wore uniforms, radios and sidearms, as cops. A tree is known by its fruit. Start shooting, breaking down doors etc and you are going to end up with some extra holes at best and you might end up taking the room temperature challenge. I didn’t notice in the article if the cops were in uniform or civilian… Read more »
“This situation can happen to people of any race or religion.”
“They include people who are black, white, and Asian.”
Still stok’n the racial fires, eh Dean??
Mr. Weingarten, I am not one bit surprised that the shooter in this case was a black female. Further, that she… and he … have prior criminal convictions also does not surprise me. I feel certain that that their claim of not hearing the deputies is likely not true since they were sleeping off their most recent drug high and the officers used loud speakers. Fact is, the prior arrests these two have are certainly NOT for misdemeanors. Child abuse, auto burglary; etc. Blacks are getting to the point that they feel that they have no obligation to follow the… Read more »
Mr. Weingarten; Maybe before you comment on police procedures and tactics you should actually find out why current/modern law enforcement agencies actually do what they do when serving search warrants. Nothing in your bio, or in this article, suggests you have any practical LE knowledge that isn’t 40+ years old. The fact that the moronic cheerleaders are supporting your suppositions with their childish comments speak volumes as to a bias and ignorance toward law enforcement. Please stay in your lane as a firearms reviewer or political/2A commentator.
Why couldn’t the cops just wait for them to go outside? Why did the cops destroy the front porch? Why aren’t the cops wearing body cameras? After listening to the recording, there’s no reason to think this was anything other than a home invasion until the cops announced themselves. Even then, it’s a judgement call as to believing that it was indeed the cops. Put yourself in the women’s shoes and see if you honestly would have reacted differently. As stupid as defund the police is, things like this don’t help their cause at all. In an effort not to… Read more »
There’s absolutely no reason to serve a no-knock warrant unless there is ample evidence showing that it will lead to the rescue of a hostage or kidnapping victim or something to that effect. People can easily be arrested for crimes outside of their home.
Mr. Weingarten is one of the best sources there is for well-researched, factual articles on incidents like this one. He also tends to follow up when there are new facts or developments. He is well-informed and sensible, especially when it comes to both the rights of policemen and of citizens.
She should be executed
You should be, for being sucks boot-licking cuck to the government.
145 you should consider leaving AMMOLAND.
Dean, you need to move PRONTO! Head on over to Jacksonville NOW since YOU were at the scene of the shooting and can be called as a eyewitness! GET GOING!
He6 Clark! Your village called. Yeah, you know!
Someone doesn’t know how reporting works, clearly.